At the recent Salem School Board meeting held on Monday, February 9, Community First Bank was awarded as lender for the Bradie Shrum HVAC project to start at the end of this school year.
Community First Bank had the lowest rate at 3.71 percent with each six months the school corporation paying $137,302.81 or once a year $274,606.00
There were three school board members not present, Steve Motsinger, Marie Lowery and Jason Pepmeier. The minutes of January 12 and all claims were approved.
Assistant Superintendet Kim Thurston along with helpful imput from Dr. Reed and Bonita Purlee the school system is in need of a new telephone system. Thurston stated he visited Scottsburg, New Albany and Clarksville regarding phone services that they have in place.
There are two different systems ranging in price from $35,000 to $100,000. According to Thurston the system that is currently installed creates confusion for callers and is a safety risk. If a 911 call is placed from the Middle School, and all lines are tied up, and the Police or EMS try to call back, they could indeed reach someone at the High School, who is not aware of the situation at the Middle School and mass confusion could be caused; with the phone being rolled over the caller ID will state the wrong school. The provider of the phone system will be Education Network of America and they will also route the calls. A significant amount of the cost will be covered by Erate through the state.
The board agreed to install the $35,000 system as long as they will be listed in the phonebook for the community to have access to the community schools.
The following personnel recommendations were approves by Ben Bowling and seconded by Tracey Payne: Rachel Irwin, BSLE Title I after school instructor; Wilma Bowling, BSLE Substitute Title I after school instructor; Beverly Lanham, BSLE Substituter Title I after school instructor; Pam Berry, BSLE Substitute Title I after school instructor; Terri Walton, BSUE Substitute Title I after school instructor; GariLou Crane, BSUE Substitute Title I after school instructor; Rita Kay Maudlin, BSUE Substitute Title I after school instructor; Melissa Sears, BSUE Substitute Title I after school instructor; and Robert Deirth, Math ISTEP Remediation.
By the recommendation of Superintendent Kim Thurston, the board unanimously agreed to suspend the monthly financial reports until Spring. According to Thurston, a better hand on the tax information is the major reason. The 2008 property tax money is the problem.
Also according to Thurston the corporations general fun currently has a balance of $1,661,224.98 with $1,500,000.00 being a temporary loan which would leave the balance of $161,224.98 if the temporary loan would be paid back as of today.
“That amount is not enough to make payroll which is $345,937 every two weeks. Although we are paying interest, I recommend we not pay the temporary loan back as of yet and wait for more tax money to come through.” stated Thurston. The Board unanimously agreed with Thurston.
The 2009/2010 school calendar was approved but subject to change on early release days and one professional teachers day along with a SADD trip to Lazer Blaze on March.
The board agreed to the first readings of New and revised policies concerning Early Entrance and Student Discipline. Early Entrance in regards to kindergarten. As of right now, the child needs to be five years of age before August 1, the new policy, will state students can turn five between August 1 and September 1 and be enrolled in kindergarten as long as the parent has put in a request by April 1 and the kindergarten screening is taken. The Student Discipline policy will replace four existing policies that were outdated and placed into one standard policy. The policy will outline everything that could possibly get students in trouble at school.
The board agreed to cancel six outstanding checks dating back to 2006 with two of the checks being from Administration office is the amount of $222.11 being placed back in to the general fund and four checks from the high school in the amount of $51.62 and being placed in the ECA fund at the high school.
A note from Dr. Reed: As of February 9, the last day of school will be May 28, with graduation being May 30. This is contingent upon no more snow days.
The next Salem Community School Board meeting will take place on Monday, march 9 at 6:30. The public is always invited to attend.